Blog posts tagged with 'vietnam'

April 30, 2015 will mark the 40th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon, the day the Viet Cong swept the city, the last Americans were evacuated and the Vietnam War was finally over. According to Quan Barry, poet and author of the new book She Weeps Each Time You’re Born, this was also the moment that most Americans stopped thinking about Vietnam. Yet, as tourism to Southeast Asia increases, Barry explained in a recent interview, travelers should remember that Vietnamese history didn’t start and end in the 1960s and ’70s.

Weighing in at nearly 4 ½ pounds, Golden Lands is a hefty book, but don’t let that scare you – it’s a gentle giant! Vikram Lall’s insights into the religious architecture of Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam are invitingly well written and worth every ounce.
Lall begins his treatment at Southeast Asia’s architectural beginning – as a humble chain of trading posts between India and southern China in which Buddhism spread and shrines were built as early as the 5th century. It wasn’t long before the stupas got taller, the pagodas got wider, more roofs appeared atop the wats and sprawls of Buddhist monuments blossomed in the deep jungle.

Author of Vietnam, Rising Dragon

"Vietnam is full of wonderful, remote places: terraced hills, pristine islands and wide green valleys. But if you want to understand something of how Vietnam works you don’t have to go further than the center of Hanoi.
Ba Dinh Square, the epicenter of political life in Vietnam, was designed for parades.